I like to know the history of Jane Doe. How does it come that they call unknowing people Jane Doe ?

Question

Why doe they call the unknowing people Jane Doe ?

What is the history of calling unknowing people Jane Doe ?

P.S. I can't very good English yet. I'm sorry.

Answer 1

(Note: Jane Doe is the female equivalent of John Doe)

"The name was used at least as far back as 1659, in England – "To prosecute the suit, to witt John Doe And Richard Roe”[1] – and perhaps as early as the reign of England's King Edward III.[2]

The Oxford English Dictionary states that John Doe is "the name given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff, in the (now obsolete) mixed action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being called Richard Roe". (Note that this is in marked contrast to current usage, in which the name Doe is usually used for the defendant.)

In addition, the Nuttall Encyclopaedia states that John O'Noakes, or John Noakes, is a fictitious name for a litigious person, used by lawyers in actions of ejectment."